In Gaus, U.S. Pat. No. 1,991,610, a complicated mechanical apparatus is disclosed for dropping a person from a seat into a pool of water upon the striking of a ball or like missile on a target. The mechanism includes a plurality of bevel gears, level arms, rods, and so forth, for concurrent with the seat moving downward to drop the person, causing an animated object to move toward the person as he drops into the water.
In Abraham et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,704, when a target is struck by a missile, a rod having one end connected to the target is moved in a manner for unlatching a mechanism holding, at a height, an animated object, for permitting the object to fall downward via a guided slotway.